Distortion of DNA cholesteric liquid crystal quenched at low temperature : geometrical analysis and models

Abstract

Freeze-fracture elecuon microscopy allows an ultrastructural analysis of deformations of a DNA cholesteric liquid crystalline sample subjected to a compressive stress applied parallel to the layers, when quickly frozen by projection onto a copper block cooled down to about 10 K. A geometrical model of these deformations is proposed. After a brief recall of the usual representation of the cholesteric structure as a succession of equidistant pseudoplanes, we show that these planes are distorted into sinusoidal surfaces whose wavelength is much smaller than the cholesteric pitch and its amplitude modulated with the average molecular orientation relative to the compressive force. The consequences of these deformations regarding double twist occurrence within the structure are analysed. When the DNA concentration in the cholesteric mesophase is low, a complex helicoidal structure is observed. A relationship between these two phenomena is considered and discussed.